


Say My Name

by BossToaster (ChaoticReactions)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Basically just a bunch of silliness, Kink Meme, M/M, Matt refuses to use people's actual names so he resorts to stupid bullshit instead, Nicknames, Pet Names
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-13
Updated: 2016-09-13
Packaged: 2018-08-14 19:03:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8025412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChaoticReactions/pseuds/BossToaster
Summary: A Kink Meme Fill:"I am weak for Matt calling Shiro by his first name, and then I started wondering if that was the only thing he called him? And maybe there were nicknames? And occasionally the other Paladins overhear and are confused/horrified/delighted because who is Matt talking to? Is he talking to SHIRO? W H A T. And these nicknames range from sweet things like 'babe' and 'love' to "O Mighty Buttlord, Master of All Buttheads' and "strangely attractive scum on the bottom of my shoe".Could be like a five things, maybe? Different times various characters heard Matt call Shiro something other than Shiro." Follows the spirit more than the letter, since this isn't a five things at all, not really.





	Say My Name

It wasn’t unusual for Shiro to be one of the last to arrive at breakfast. Not because he was sleeping in, because for that he would need to be able to sleep more than a few hours at a time. Instead, he’d spent the last hour in the training room, running laps and generally working off some energy. Plus, it put him in a good place for the rest of the day, and he appreciated that.

The good place was, of course, occasionally undone by breakfast itself.

Shiro padded in, wearing his undershirt but not the vest, and still wearing the towel draped over his shoulders. Everyone else had already shown up, with the exception of Allura, who was probably setting up the days training, and Commander Holt and Coran. Those two seemed to have disappeared, probably together. They’d both found outlets for their storytelling habits in each other, and the rest of them just tried to avoid being pulled in. Hunk had made the mistake of politely sticking around instead of running for it, and it had taken him nearly two hours to make his excuses.

Picking his head up, Lance wolf-whistled loudly. “Look at you, all skimpy without the vest. And wet too.”

Shiro stared at him. “It’s barely 9 AM. Can we at least a couple more hours before getting inappropriate?”

“Nope,” Lance replied easily. “It’s not my fault you waltzed in like a strumpet.”

While Shiro was still mouthing the word ‘strumpet’, not sure if he was horrified or amused, Pidge snorted. “I didn’t know removing a layer made him a stripper.”

Before they could keep going, Shiro pulled out a seat next to Matt, who had his nose firmly in his pad. As far as Shiro could tell, he hadn’t heard a word of the exchange, which was only a good thing. He’d join in Lance’s side just to be a pest, no doubt. “Enough, Lance. Seriously, I haven’t even sat down yet.”

“Yeah, leave him alone,” Keith grumbled. “It’s way too early for your shit.”

Shiro resisted the urge to groan, even as Pidge started to snicker. Because she knew just as well as he did that Keith had personally guaranteed Lance was going to keep this up all day.

Turning to face Shiro, eyes bright with the fire of someone who was doing this just because he’d been told no, Lance smirked. Hunk reached out to try and put a quelling hand on his shoulder, but by that point it was too late. “I think Shiro is looking to score, is all. And could you blame him? I’d be running around shirtless if I was that broad. A hunka hunka burning love.”

Before Shiro could respond to _that_ particular barrage of nonsense, Matt suddenly slammed down his pad and sprawled sideways until he was half lying in Shiro’s lap. “Honey, I think you mean **Hunkules**.”

Shiro took a deep breath and stared Lance down hard. He shut his mouth, though now he looked like he was holding back laughter. Then, Shiro reached down and grabbed the back of Matt’s shirt, hauling him back into his chair. “Don’t encourage this,” he hissed to him, venomous in a way he couldn't justifying being to Lance.

“I have no idea what’s going on,” Matt replied cheerfully, unbothered by the way Shiro was still holding him like a kitten. “I just heard that last part and the Disney took over.”

Dropping his shirt, Shiro went back to glaring at Lance. “20 laps.”

Lance slumped and pouted. “Aww, it was a joke. C’mon.”

“ _25_.”

The sound of a dropped fork caught Shiro’s attention, and he glanced over to see Keith staring at Matt, wide eyed. “I know that joke! That’s from the movie!”

Matt beamed, delighted. “You’ve seen Hercules?” He took a deep breath to launch into something - probably a song, knowing him - but Shiro clapped a hand over his mouth.

“No,” he told him, flattly. “Just no.”

This was apparently the final straw for Pidge, who burst into snickers, snorting into her breakfast. While Shiro was distracted eyeing her, Matt licked his hand until Shiro yanked it back, wide-eyed. He got a grin in return, as if Matt was a ten year old and not a fully grown adult who had been picked for a mission that went the furthest humanity had ever been, at the time.

This day was going to kill Shiro, and it wasn’t even 8:30 yet.

Standing, he moved over and took the chair next to Hunk instead, because he was the only one who could be trusted. 

Hunk patted his shoulder, though from the way his lips were pressed together so tightly, he was probably trying to hold back laughter too. “Do you want me to poison them at lunch?”

“That might be best,” Shiro grumbled back. Snorting, Hunk nodded. “Do me first.”

“Aww, it’s okay, Hunkules,” Matt soothed, voice syrupy. “We just wuv you.”

Shiro rested his head on the table. “I regret joining the Garrison.”

That made Keith give an agreeing noise, which only reminded him that after he’d left, Keith became a desert hermit, which really wasn’t helping his mood this morning. 

Hopefully whatever Allura was cooking up for training would be nice and distracting, because otherwise Shiro was going to scream.

***

“For real, though,” Matt commented, as he followed Shiro toward training. He had taken to watching, both to better learn the system the training room worked off of, and just for the sheer entertainment value. According to him, anyway. “You did get big.”

Shiro shrugged one shoulder, not really wanting to discuss that year. “I spent most of it fighting. One assumes that’s what happens.”

Eyeing him, Matt rested a hand on Shiro’s arm. At first, it was comforting, and Shiro started to relax, but then Matt wrapped his fingers around the bicep, seemingly trying to measure it. “What’s your max weight on the metal arm?”

“I’m not sure. More than the weights we have,” Shiro replied. 

Matt’s brows rose. “So you could lift me with just your arm?”

Frowning, Shiro eyed him. “Yes. But I won’t.” 

“Aww,” Matt whined. “C’mon, it’ll be hot.”

That made Shiro’s cheeks flush. He ignored that and, after a quick glance to make sure no one was behind them, he pulled Matt to a stop. “Matt, this arm is a weapon. Can you please not?”

Something in Matt’s gaze softened, going from teasing to caring. “Hey, it’s more than that. It’s also part of you. I _get_ it, but... Shiro, it’s been who knows how long. And it’ll be longer than that. You might as well be comfortable with it.”

“And getting comfortable with it means I pick you up?”

Matt nodded. “Well, as one possibility. But mostly it means I don’t pretend I don’t see it. And it also means I stop pretending I don’t notice that you hesitate to touch people with it.”

Hand clenching, Shiro stared back. Then he sighed and made himself relax. “Maybe. Not that way.”

“You could pick me up with your other arm,” Matt offered instantly, hooking his arm with Shiro’s metal one, probably just to make a point. Shiro was just glad he couldn’t feel his pulse through it, or else Matt might know how his heart had started to pound. Matt started walking again, though he kept glancing over out of the corner of his eyes. “Doesn’t even have to be in a fun way, I just want to get you to do it, Beefcake.”

Shiro sighed. “Really?”

“I’m sorry, I forgot you prefer your full name, Beefcake And Gravy.” Matt grinned at him, all teeth. “How rude of me.”

Letting out a slow groan, Shiro eyed him back. “Thanks so much. How dare you forget the gravy part.”

Matt rested a hand on his chest. “I know, right? I’ll be sure to do better in the future.” He eyed him. “For real, though, are you still upset about breakfast?”

“Define upset,” Shiro replied. “If it means ‘I found it all deeply annoying and I’d like for it to never happen again’, then yes. If it means ‘I’m going to actually get Hunk to poison us all to end it’, then probably not, but I did consider it.”

Patting his back, Matt leaned into Shiro’s shoulder. “Aww, poor Gravy Train. We were mean to you this morning.”

Shiro rolled his eyes. And now I’m iIrritated again.”

“You’re such a an easy straight man. Comedically, I mean. Not the rest of the time. You just set them up so nicely, I can’t resist.”

Shiro took another deep breath. “Can we just go? I want to get training done before lunch, if we can.”

With an agreeable hum, Matt picked up the pace. “It’s gunna be fun. I hope you guys get your ass kicked by the wall lasers again. I liked that one.”

It should probably worry Shiro a lot more how much Matt seemed to enjoy watching the training kick their ass but... well, he’d known him at the Garrison. He’d always been that way. For better or for worse.

***

It turned out that the training today wasn’t even for Shiro.

It also turned out that Shiro was much, much worse at watching than Matt.

He was settled in the booth next to Allura, leaning forward as he watched the other paladins walk through the obstacle course and survival ‘mission’ she had set up. And they were doing fine They were perfectly capable, after all. But Shiro had the benefit of more experience and a bird’s eye view, and the imperfections that he could have corrected were driving him slowly crazy.

“You’re going to break something,” Matt commented, eyeing Shiro up and down clinically. “Possibly the chair. Not sure yet.”

Shiro scowled back, but only for a moment. Then his attention narrowed back on the paladins as though drawn there by magnets. As the illusionary fog started to break, he could see the dark, hazy form of a robot. “Your six!” He called, instinctive and immediate, before he shoved himself back in the chair and crossed his arms.

Eyeing him in amusement, Allura tilted her head toward the deck. “You will not always be nearby to guide them, Shiro. You have to let them make their own mistakes.”

“I do,” Shiro insisted. And it was true. He just usually didn’t feel so helpless about it. Finally, Hunk noticed the approaching form and shot it down, and they seemed to keep a better eye on their flank after it, but Shiro was still whipcord tense as he watched.

And, if he was being honest, Shiro wouldn’t be doing any better if he was with them. His benefit was seeing this objectively and from a distance. 

But... It was still hard to watch them go on without him, even when they were noticeably improving.

“It’s almost over, Fussy Gussy,” Matt soothed, resting a hand on Shiro’s shoulder. He looked somewhere between amused and worried, and the combination was doing odd things to his expression. “Seriously, unwind, Big Guy.”

Matt was right. Really, he was. This was controlled circumstances.

Getting riled up this morning probably hadn’t helped, if he was being honest.

Shiro concentrated on his breathing, slow and even, and reminded himself that this was all perfectly safe, even when one of the robots fired out of the gloom and nearly hit Lance in the face. It was a training exercise, they weren’t facing anyone, if they got hit it would sting for a bit and it’d hurt their pride but nothing more, nothing at all.

A new hand on his other shoulder made Shiro jolt, and he realized he’d completely failed to relax at all. Squeezing both sides gently, Matt rested his chin on the top of Shiro’s head. “Okay, I know I say ‘seriously’ too much, but _seriously_. Wanna time yourself on my breathing?”

Considering it, Shiro finally shook his head. “No, I’m alright. Just... dealing.” That and it was... intimate. Bad enough he could feel the heat of Matt’s hands on him acutely, even through the fabric. He tilted his head up to gaze up at Matt, though he glanced sideways at Allura’s sly look at them both. “Stay there, though? I think it helps.”

“Not a problem, Care Bear,” Matt replied, shifting as he made a show of settling in.

Shiro’s chest warmed, but then he frowned. “Is that one a reference? I think you’ve used it before.”

“Yup,” Matt confirmed. “Trying to figure out which one you are, actually.”

Nose crinkling, Shiro considered. “There’s lots of them? Like Ewoks?”

That made Matt laugh. “Yes, exactly like Ewoks.” Then he froze. “Oh, wasn’t there the lion one? Lionheart! That’d be thematically appropriate.”

“How is there a lion bear?” Allura asked blankly. “Is a bear a classification of beasts on your planet?”

Before Matt could answer, Shiro cringed. “Oh, no, duck!” Keith saw at the last moment, diving over, but he took out Hunk’s legs in the process, and the both of them crashed to the ground hard. “Oh, boy.”

Matt chuckled. “That’s gunna leave a mark. Oh, they better get up before- nevermind, Katie’s got it. Pa-chow! Love her banyard thing. It’s so tiny and violent.” He was completely relaxed as he draped against Shiro’s back, commenting like it was one of his movies, and Shiro wondered how he managed.

Then again, knowing Matt’s track record for checking out of emotions other than ‘vague amusement’, maybe he didn’t want to know. Though he seemed pretty present at the moment.

Finally, finally, they reached the final part of the course, and Shiro could take a moment to settle himself and focus on plastering a smile on his face. They’d done well, and they deserved a warm congratulations for it, even if Shiro still felt like going after a punching bag for a while.

“Well done,” Allura congratulated warmly over the intercom. “We’ll be down shortly to discuss.” Clicking it back off, she eyed him dryly. “Are you prepared now?”

“Yeah,” Shiro replied, standing up. He lifted Matt to his feet in the process, though he did let go after a moment. “Let’s go.”

***

Shiro managed to settle enough to get through the breakdown afterwards with mostly sincere congratulations. After a quick stop for lunch - Coran made, this time, with assistance from Commander Holt, who was still delighted by the kitchen equipment, and the combination of them somehow managed to make it taste _worse_ \- Shiro slipped out. They had the afternoon free, a nod to it being a ‘weekend’. As long as there weren’t any Galra attacks, Shiro should be able to squirrel himself away and decompress a bit.

It never managed to work out that way.

He’d just settled in the observation room, resolving to hideout until he was fully relaxed and prepared for interaction again, when the door opened. “Hey, there you are,” Matt remarked, wandering in.

“Here I am. Incidentally, I slipped away to avoid people for a little while.”

Matt snorted and sat down next to him. “Yeah, well, I can go. But I’m not one of your paladins, you know. If you wanna snap and be pissy at me, I can take it.” He nudged his shoulder to Shiro’s. “Let it never be said that I can’t take what I dish out.”

“That remains to be seen,” Shiro replied dryly. “And I don’t really want to snap. I just want to relax for five damn minutes.”

Tilting his head over till it was leaning on Shiro’s shoulder, Matt fluttered his lashes. “I can do that. I’m very relaxing.”

“Matt.”

Expression sobering, Matt nodded. “Alright, fair enough.” He pushed himself back up to his knees. “Just promise me one thing, Grumpy Gills. You’re not going to revert to ‘I must be perfect don’t look at my shame’ mode, because there was plenty of that on the trip to Pluto and I didn’t like it much to begin with.”

Shiro opened his mouth to refute that, then sighed. “I won’t.” Then he glanced over at Matt, considering what he’d said before. He was right that Shiro really didn’t have to maintain the leadership role around him. “You can stay, as long as you don’t make a big deal out of being not annoying. It’s probably worse.”

“You know, the fact that I can be worse means that you probably shouldn’t complain the rest of the time,” Matt replied philosophically, going back to leaning against Shiro’s side. 

For a moment they were both silent, watching the stars as they moved past. “One question. What would help your mood? I haven’t exactly been helping today.”

Shiro sighed. “I’m not sure. This is pretty good, right now.” He could work on the junker bike he’d gotten weeks ago, but he wasn’t particularly in the mood, and he was at a point he wasn’t sure what he wanted to work on next. They could pick out one of Pidge’s movies, but that would inevitably draw a crowd, and Shiro was trying to avoid that until he was settled. “If I could do anything? I’d go for a joyride. It helps to do something I’m just good at.”

Matt hummed, tapping his fingers against Shiro’s arm. “I’d offer to spar you or something, but that sounds like a lot of bruises for about two seconds of satisfaction.” Then he paused. “Hey, did you guys bring cards, Magic Man?”

“Pidge printed of a few sets.” He replied. “You want to play a game?”

Matt nodded. “Yeah. Normally I’d say we should play something digital, but those are kind of thin on the ground, here. Sound good to you? Hard to keep being Mr. Frowny Face when you’re too busy failing to match my amazing card skills.”

Unable to help it, Shiro cracked a smile and pushed his natural hand against Matt’s face, shoving him away. “Mr. Frowny Face? That’s Captain Frowny Face to you.”

Matt laughed, not even bothering to pull his head away. “Only if you win. Actually, wanna make this fun? Bet time. When I win, I get to call you Poopsie over the helmet comms.”

“No.”

“Fine. I’ll call you Poopsie in front of some aliens. No one important. It’ll just make me happy to know that somewhere in the galaxy, there’s a group of beings who think your given name is Poopsie.” Matt nudged him again. “And if something goes terribly wrong with the world and I lose, I’ll respond to Cadet. I’ll salute when you walk into the room, all that. I’ll be a model of a student.”

Oh. Now that was tempting. Was it worth the possibility of being called Poopsie? “I get a veto on who you call. Not in a diplomacy meeting.”

Sensing that Shiro was caving, Matt nodded. “Agreed. Totally reasonable. The pact is sealed.” He hopped up and offered Shiro his hand. “What’s your card game poison?”

Taking Matt’s hand, Shiro smirked.

***

“No!” Matt howled, as Shiro smacked his hand down on double threes and pulled the pile closer. “You jackass!”

Completely unrepentant, Shiro smiled back. “You should have thought twice about letting me pick Egyptian Ratscrew.”

Matt grit his teeth. “Yeah, that’s why I said you had to use your natural hand. It’s your off hand.”

Shrugging one shoulder, Shiro grinned. “Eh. For a certain definition of off. I do a lot with both.”

That earned him a bland look. “You’re ambidextrous?” 

“Not naturally, but I’ve practiced with it. It was something to do.”

Matt groaned and flopped backward, smacking what was left of his cards against his face. “I hate you. You suck. You are General Suckington, of the Asshole Regiment, graduated with honors from Jack-off Academy, and you earned a Total Dick award for outstanding effort in the realm of being a jerk.”

Keeping his expression calm, Shiro raised his brows. “And you didn’t even graduate from Jack-off Academy, so what does that say about you?”

That made Matt kick his feet in tiny, sulky jerks. “I hate you. I give up. Call me Cadet Jack-off.”

Finally cracking, Shiro laughed, hard enough that he doubled over and clutched at his stomach. “I’m gunna call you that in front of your Dad.”

Which set off Matt, and they were both still snickering when Hunk stuck his head in. “Did something happen in here? You guys got kinda loud, we thought you might be fighting.”

“We are,” Shiro managed. “Or, I’m fighting, and Cadet J-O here is getting beat.”

Squawking angrily, Matt kicked at Shiro’s thighs. “We’ll see who’s beating who! Rematch.”

Shiro glanced at him, and then pressed his lips together tightly, fighting off more giggles. “We shouldn’t say beat when I’m calling you by your new nickname.”

For a moment, Matt just stared at him. Then he started to howl with laughter, dropping his cards completely. “Oh my god, seriously?”

Hunk stared at Matt, and then at Shiro. “Have... have you guys been drinking?”

Managing to sober somewhat, Shiro shook his head. “Just a joke that got out of hand.” And since Matt would just whine about losing again, he started to collect the cards. “Since we already have this out, would the rest of you like to join us for a game of poker?”

“I’ll ask,” Hunk replied, giving a tiny salute then ducking out, already calling for the others.

Once he got his breath back, Matt sat up. His hair was mussed and his glasses had fallen nearly all the way off his face. He looked ridiculous, and Shiro really wanted to kiss him.

Dammit, this again.

He focused on shuffling for long enough to get himself under control, and when he looked back up, Matt was watching him speculatively. “Hey. After dinner, will you hang out in my room with me? We can put together a card game for the pads. Shouldn’t take long, if Katie already started printing them off she has the images somewhere and I can snag them. It’s half the work, really.”

“Yeah, sounds good.” Shiro nodded and took a deep breath, still a little flushed from the earlier game. “Yeah.”

“Good,” Matt replied, smiling, and Shiro stared back for a moment.

Then the door burst open, Pidge already celebrating the games she was going to win.

Settling in to deal, Shiro just grinned.

Because disappointing smug Holts at card games was turned out to be something he lived for. 

***

Blinking awake, Shiro squinted into the dim light. This wasn’t his room.

He tilted his head, oddly reluctant to move, but too confused not to. He was slumped back in bed, and Matt was curled next to him, still clutching the pad he’d been programming the game into. Last he remembered, Matt had been talking through different materials they could print the cards on for specific purposes, after Shiro admitted to ripping through cards when practicing tricks. And then he started talking about the code as it compiled, and Shiro’s eyes had itched. He hadn’t been tired, not really, despite his earlier than usual morning, but they’d just felt dry, so he’d blinked slowly to try and fix that and...

And he must have fallen asleep.

Well, damn. Mostly, he was impressed he’d managed to drift off when Matt was still chattering on. But then again, that might have helped. It was hard to feel like he was somewhere he didn’t want to be when Matt was happily babbling on about video game programming.

For a moment, Shiro just stared at Matt’s slack face. He looked young, like this, and peaceful. His hair was still longer, curling and framing his cheekbones, and Shiro had the sudden urge to tuck a curl behind his ear.

Okay, it was officially time for Shiro to go back to his own room before he did something regretful.

He tried to move slowly to avoid disturbing Matt, but he didn’t even manage to sit up all the way before there was a soft groan. “What time s’it?”

“I’m not sure,” Shiro replied quietly. “Just woke up.”

When he glanced back, Matt was watching him blearily, squinting either because of how tired he was or because he’d taken off his glasses. “Where’re you goin’?”

Shiro smiled back. “My room. Tried to let you sleep.”

Closing his eyes like the answer pained him, Matt flopped back down and drowsily raised an arm. “No. Get back here.”

“Shouldn’t. I still get nightmares. And with my arm-”

“Takashi.” The use of his name started him, and Shiro stared back at him. “I’m not being subtle. Stay. Please?”

Oh.

_Oh._

Well, when he put it that way.

Kicking off his shoes, Shiro climbed back onto the bed and twisted so he was curled up and facing Matt. “Okay.”

“Good.” Tilting his head forward, Matt gave Shiro a soft kiss on the lips, but pulled back quickly. “And now our first kiss was when I was too tired to really enjoy it. Very rude. Lemme be the big spoon. Makes up for it.” He cracked open an eye. “Unless it’s bad.”

Shiro blinked slowly, then smiled. “Sorry.” He didn’t even manage to sound like he meant it. Turning back around, he scooted back until Matt could fling and arm around his waist and tug him in, and then he felt Matt’s nose shove in against the back of his neck. “Good?”

“Mmf,” Matt muttered back. He went limp and started to breathe deeply almost immediately.

With the way his heart was still pounding, Shiro didn’t find sleep right away. 

But when he did, it was warm and peaceful.

**Author's Note:**

> So I have the headcanon that the reason Matt is still a cadet but still got to go on the mission is that he technically should have graduated in Shiro's class, but chose to do his senior thesis on the mission itself, so he technically needs three more credits before he can finish. Because THINK OF THE PUBLISHING POTENTIAL.
> 
> Also, I have a headcanon that Matt is kind of a goof. Oops.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed! Remember that you can follow me at Bosstoaster.tumblr.com, and also that if you're looking for where the hell the porn went, it's under the Pseud B"osstoaster Smut"


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